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We all have photos and moments from our past we'd rather forget. They show up online when we least expect them, like an un-scrubbable digital tattoo. On Facebook. On Instagram. On Twitter. Mine aren't as bad as others. I once played John Hancock in a community theatre production of 1776 . And despite my best efforts, a photo of me in that powdered wig surfaces every now and then. (It could be worse; it's not a photo of me with my own hair.) It's a digital shadow I can't elude. But it likely won't affect my professional reputation. Unless it appears on LinkedIn. Jian Ghomeshi photo by Canadian Film Centre from Toronto, Canada (ideaBOOST Launch Pad May 8, 2014) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons I'm better able to move forward from that awkward powdered-wig image than  Jian Ghomeshi, the former CBC radio host whose career imploded when, in 2014, multiple women accused him of harsh sexual behavior. CBC dismissed Ghomeshi from his talk program "Q...

As a teenager, I belonged to a retail union. This enabled me to work 20 hours a week at Master's, a regional department store. When business slowed, the store laid off workers, including me. The union rep said she could get my hours back -- or I could just accept the union's unemployment compensation, which amounted to the same check I'd get if I went back to work. Master's, if it existed today, would have been gutted by monolithic Wal-mart, whose "Save Money, Live Better" mantra masks a business strategy that demands lower costs for the goods it sells. This, in turn,  sends manufacturing jobs to countries that don't defend the safety of their employees. That's what unions did best: they led the push for safer working conditions and livable wages. By Walmart from Bentonville, USA  (Walmart’s Grease Fuel Truck)  [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)] via Wikimedia Commons You may have missed how Wal-mart attempted to trample a...